Nature's Fist Green Is Gold

I love Fall!! It's my favorite season.  My favorite part of fall is the fresh foods.  Here are a few fall poems to get you in the mood.

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower,
But every so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief.
So dawn goes down to day,
Nothing Gold Can Stay.
-Robert Frost

“No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face." 
-John Donne


 Hermiston is not pretty in the fall. In fact, Hermiston is not pretty in the summer, spring, or winter.  In some ways Hermiston has it's own beauty- but only a few.   But that's ok.  Darren has a great job and I have a BEAUTIFUL family that I love. I also have a nice house that I am thankful for.
We recently went looking for snakes at Hat Rock with Dr. Laury (who refused to get in the picture).  We didn't find any snakes, but we had a great time.  It was nice to get out.

 One thing we did find was this awesome Crucifix Fish skull.  Now the cool thing about this is that we found one of these on the beach in Florida! The same kind of skull! This is the skull of a catfish.  They call it the Crucifix because it looks like Jesus on the cross. Kinda, I guess.  We were so excited to find it and know what it was! 

 Now, one of Hermiston's good points is the sunsets are very frequently beautiful.  
Another Fall activity we did was go to Bellinger's Pumpkin patch.  We rode on a tracktor ride and everyone picked out pumpkins.  It was fun.  I tried to get a good picture of Gabe, but it's practically impossible to get that kids to 1. hold still and 2. look at the camera.  So ya get what ya get.

See, there is only like one picture of all the other kids- because they can actually hold still. I can't believe I didn't get a piture of Luke! First World Problems. 
Here's another fall poem to leaf you with ;)

The Apple Tree
It's the fall & the unfallen apples hold their brightness a little longer into the blue air, holding the dream that they can be brighter.
- Galway Kinnell

Halloween Party

It all started with a Halloween Oriental Trading Company catalog.  Gabe wanted everything in it.  He circled everything.   Then my older kids circled what they wanted.  They begged to order some of the amazingly cheap toys that the catalog made look awesome.  Usually I have a Halloween party for the kids and their friends- but this year I had a different idea- I was going to have a FAMILY Halloween party! So we invited some families we are friends with.  All the friends I invited had helped me and my family when I had my c-section  I felt so grateful to all of them.  My kids planned like crazy.  Especially Ellie, she is the ultimate planner!! She had lists of everything, guests names, food, treats, games, and the times we would be doing everything.  She had everything organized perfectly. We had such a great time! Gabe was this cute little skeleton.

 I asked everyone to bring a fun Halloween food.  We had some great dishes!  So fun!

 Jello "shots".  These were Ellie's idea.  They were so much fun.  Non-alcoholic of course.

 LOL.  Here is Darren.  His skeleton costume was choking him so this he improvised.

 Katrina and Blair Larsen.  Katrina is my Visiting Teacher and such a good, kind person.  She was my inspiration for wanting to give birth with without an epidural.  Too bad that didn't work out!  She has helped my out so many times!

 Ellie came up with all the games.  Here they are playing the Mummy Game.

 Dave, Darren, Craig and Trent.  I love Dave's mullet!

 Here are the girls- Katie, Debbie, Katrina, me, Karley and Jenna- (too embarrassed to look at the camera!) She's beutuiful! We all are ladies!!

The Teagardens.  Trent is a Chiropractor and has immensely helped Darren and me !  Katie brought me some delicious soup after I had Luke.  Gabe still asks for that soup. 

 The Arritts.  Kolin was out of town- but Karley still brought her kids- and even dressed up! I love it when people dress up.  It makes the party so much fun!

 Dave and Debbie White and their cute girls.  Dave is a CRNA with Darren.  I think Debbie had the best costume- Crazy Cat Lady!! I loved it!

And here is the party planner!  She made up this really fun ghost game the kids went crazy for.  She lowered a ghost basket down from the upstairs and put candy in it.  The kids did it over and over again.  It was the highlight of the party. 
It was great to get to know our friends a little bit better.  Thanks everyone for coming- we had a great time!!

Two Months

Luke recently hit his 2 month mark.  Erica sent me these cute numbers to put with the Luke and take his picture each month.  I missed the first month- but here's the second. He's getting chubby! We love this cute little guy!!